Deep Thought

Moving Day

2006-05-08T10:14:00.000-04:00

I've moved to a new blog. So get outta here!

Random Idea #1 (Wu-Tang Style)

2006-04-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

I thought about starting a chain of inner city dollar stores called "Dolla Dolla Bill, Y'all".

Still going.....

2005-11-11T09:27:00.000-05:00

Quick Fact #1: Today I celebrate the 10,958th day of my existence...

Quick Fact #2: Today I celebrate the 10,958th day I've avoided being stabbed.

Happy Birthday Deep Thought!

2005-10-07T16:26:00.000-04:00

Today marks the 365th day of Deep Thought's existence. Here at Deep Thought (or as Snoop Dogg calls it (if he read it), Deepizzle Thoughlizzle), we will continue to search for the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything. Presently we are working on the answer to the question "Why does my neighbor feel the need to disturb a nice quiet afternoon revving the crap out of whatever car he is 'working on' at that moment?"

Lordy, Lordy, My Brother's Forty!

2005-10-06T08:58:00.000-04:00

Today, my big brother turns 40! So if you see him today, be sure to wish him a Happy Birthday!

He's not a Jedi yet

2005-09-14T21:52:00.000-04:00

I was reading my old copy of the Return of the Jedi storybook to my son tonight and we got to the part where Luke is about to be cast off the plank into the Sarlacc pit. So my question is this- How many of you out there remember attempting that move on your neighborhood swimming pool diving board, only to find out your "force" powers were not quite strong enough (and ended up with some wicked scraped knees)?

The answer to "How many roads must a man walk down?"

2005-09-06T12:51:00.000-04:00

I found a pretty cool blog entry by Kevin Miller discussing the spiritual side of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Here's an excerpt:
"Through (Arthur) Dent, we also learn that evil isn’t necessarily the big and scary thing horror movies would have us believe. Evil can also be found in the details, the small, barely discernable choices that slowly lead us off the narrow path and into the wilderness, blinding us to the machines of destruction that are right at our door. We become so set on maintaining the status quo, of satisfying our petty desires (all Dent really wants is a good cup of tea) that we rarely pause to wonder what it’s all about. Hence, life is reduced to a series of mundane tasks punctuated by brief moments of panic when we realize we might not complete those tasks on time. Eventually, these responsibilities can become like the Vogons, huge, ponderous things that threaten to crush us not with sheer strength or superior firepower but with the relentless, agonizing weight of bad poetry read with enthusiasm.

Thankfully, like (Ford) Prefect, Christ has also contributed his own entry into the ultimate guide to the universe—the Bible—and his message is just as clear as the one on the back cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide: “Don’t panic!” If you are face-to-face with evil, if life seems chaotic, if you’re drowning in details, if you can’t depend on anyone around you for help or answers, if you are all alone, if you are in any difficult situation whatsoever, don’t panic! Just refer to the guide, and it will show you the way out."

Here's the full article.

Also be sure to check out the site that linked me to his blog - Hollywood Jesus.

Of Corvettes and Health Insurance

2005-08-29T12:56:00.000-04:00

I recently read an article about health insurance by Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, The Tipping Point) in The New Yorker. I highly recommend reading the entire piece, but here is an excerpt:
"And, of course, every other country in the industrialized world insures all its citizens; despite those extra hundreds of billions of dollars we spend each year, we leave forty-five million people without any insurance. A country that displays an almost ruthless commitment to efficiency and performance in every aspect of its economy—a country that switched to Japanese cars the moment they were more reliable, and to Chinese T-shirts the moment they were five cents cheaper—has loyally stuck with a health-care system that leaves its citizenry pulling out their teeth with pliers."

Shouldn't we, as Christians, be bothered by the fact that 45 million of our fellow human beings can't afford health care? (This is where the conservativeschime in.) Yes, there are programs available to some people who can't afford health care, but why do Americans take the attitude of "sorry about your luck, I guess you just need to get off your rear and go make something of yourself so you can get healthy. It's not my fault you're sick." But it is our fault. We sit back and let this happen. There is also the talking points that are always thrown out to convince you that our current system is the best. So here are some talking points for the other side.

Here is another excerpt from the article, referring to a report given to the Bush White House (motto: being president means never having to say you're sorry"):
"In the section on the uninsured in the President’s report, the word “poverty” is never used. In the Administration’s view, people are offered insurance but “decline the coverage” as “a matter of choice.” The uninsured in Sered and Fernandopulle’s book decline coverage, but only because they can’t afford it. Gina, for instance, works for a beauty salon that offers her a bare-bones health-insurance plan with a thousand-dollar deductible for two hundred dollars a month. What’s her total income? Nine hundred dollars a month. She could “choose” to accept health insurance, but only if she chose to stop buying food or paying the rent." This is much the same reason I "choose" not to own my dream car - a 1963 Corvette - I can't afford it!
I work in public education and for a two year stretch went without a contract. The major sticking point - health insurance. For a period of time, it was an attitude of "us" versus "them" with the administration. Did they have anything to do with it? Of course not! The problem was that insurance rates had gone up faster than Cheney's heart rate whenever he hears the words "Halliburton" and "No-Bid Contract". Would universal health care have eliminated this problem? Now, I don't consider myself an expert on the subject, but I do think it is something we need to begin considering. Recently we seem to be big on "not following the ways of the world", but I think the world has got it right on this one.

This is strictly business

2005-06-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

I'm out by the road today, bringing the trash cans back from the road, and I hear a ruckus (what ruckus?...Could you describe the ruckus?). Birds - lots of 'em, and it sounds like they're not getting along too well. Anyway, I stand there for a minute or two when they all of a sudden fly out of the tree. I see some smaller birds flee and then a larger one - carrying one of the smaller ones! The bigger bird flies over the house and drops the smaller bird on the other side (I was reminded of the Nazgul attack on Minas Tirith scene in Return of the King!). I go to the other side to see what became of the smaller bird. There he (she) lay, in the rain filled lid to our turtle sandbox -- dead. The conclusion? The bigger bird (a robin) has now made his bones by whacking the little bird and is now caporegime of our block! (cue theme music as robin is shown sitting in chair in darkened room. camera pulls back as door closes.)

A Haiku

2005-05-30T09:12:00.000-04:00

Others write a lot.
But here in my blog entries,
Brevity is king.

Revenge of the Sith Review

2005-05-19T10:06:00.000-04:00

May 19, 12:05 a.m. The lights go down. The crowd goes silent. And we were off. Like a roller coaster, careening out of control, you know how it's going to end up and you have a pretty good idea what it's going to be like getting there. Let me start by saying the movie was awesome. In ranking the six movies, I would put it at number two, behind Empire Strikes Back. But let me also say that this part of the story almost didn't need to be told. We all know the legendary story about the fall of Anakin Skywalker. But like a good Alfred Hitchcock movie, the scariest parts are better left to the imagination. It's like when someone tells you about some guy who has done some really bad things. You say like what kind of things? And then he tells you what kind of things. And then you wish he hadn't told you. We all know Darth Vader had issues, but after seeing this movie, you know, in graphic detail, what those issues were.

To be honest, the beginning of the movie had me very scared. Scared in terms of the poorly written dialogue and cardboard acting. But rest assured, the dialogue hits its stride partway through the movie. This movie has some of the best battle scenes ever put on film. (Yes, Return of the King had the best, but you can't compare the two.) Yoda kicks even more major booty this time around. The wookiees make an appearance, but left me wanting to see more of their battle. One scene of note is during the purge of the Jedi, I couldn't help but be reminded of the christening scene in the Godfather (another movie about one man's turn to the dark side). R2-D2 shows off his awesome computer hacking skills (and fighting skills!).

I left the movie theather with a depressed feeling, not because of the movie, but because of what had happened to Anakin. The great thing about the movie, however, is that it does a great job at bridging the trilogies together and you know that everything gets resolved in the end.

My rating: ***1/2

By the way, there was a sweet trailer for Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe before the movie!

One BIG happy family

2005-05-03T09:59:00.000-04:00

My fourth graders were watching the same Ancient Egypt video and it was talking about Ramesses the Great. The narrator noted that Ramesses had fathered more than 90 children, to which one boy replied "My mom can't even stand the two of us!"

Huh?

2005-05-02T13:21:00.000-04:00

So I'm standing in the copy room making some copies, and I notice the writing on the toner cartridge. Under the ingredients list is a box that says "contents partially unknown". How safe is this? What could those unknown contents possibly be? I think this label should be used in the food industry as well (like on, say, every food item at McDonald's!).

Mostly Harmless

2005-05-02T10:36:00.000-04:00

I saw "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" this weekend. I'm fairly new to the Douglas Adams universe (I've read the first three books of the trilogy last year and re-read Hitchhiker's last month). Reading Adams' work has got me into reading more sci-fi and also led to my discovery of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (probably some of the funniest stories ever written!). I went into the movie without any expectations - I just wanted to see how this book translated to the big screen. After seeing the movie, I realized that it is a very tough book to adapt into movie form. Many of the jokes that I found funny on the page were either not funny in the movie or were left out entirely. It would be similar to adapting a Terry Pratchett book for the screen. For some reason, Pratchett's handling of the English language is incredibly funny on paper, but would probably be lost on mainstream audiences. Which brings me to my next point about the movie - who was the movie made for? If it was made strictly for the fans, with all its bits intact, it wouldn't have recieved that wide of a release (and wouldn't have had the funding - like a low budge BBC series). For some entertainment, after you see the movie, read uber fan MJ Simpson's now legendary review. (I would hate to read this guy's review of "The Ten Commandments" - "Moses wasn't a white guy! And he certainly didn't part the Red Sea with the end of a rifle!") I think the movie was made for the in-between group - those of us who have only read the book twice, sci-fi fans, kids, Monty Python fans, clinically depressed androids, etc. It's not that bad of a movie. Yes it's awkward at times, but so was the book. The movie has some loose ends, but so did "Weekend at Bernie's I". Some of the funniest things in the movie turned out to be the new parts. My favorite part from the book, however, was also my favorite part in the movie. It has to do with a pot of petunias and a whale, miles above the surface of a planet. That's all I'm going to say. And make sure you stay through the credits.

My rating: 38 (out of 42 stars)

"It's pretty much my favorite civilization"

2005-04-29T09:33:00.000-04:00

My third grade art students were watching a video about ancient Egypt as part of our Egyptian art unit. It got to the part about the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and the narrator mentioned it was accidently discovered by the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte. In unison, the kids whispered among themselves "Hey, Napoleon Dynamite!".

Looking At My Blog

2005-04-25T20:37:00.000-04:00

Right now I am showing my family my blog. Matter of fact, at this very moment, I am showing them how I create a new post!

Dining Out

2005-04-18T13:49:00.000-04:00

We ate at one of those sit-down chain resturants yesterday (you know, the ones where miscellaneous items are individually bolted to the wall and/or ceiling?). I got thinking- will we ever look back nostalgically at these restaurants like we do diners?

(old man in the future)- Remember the good old restaurants where we could dine under a hockey stick bolted to the ceiling? And what about those menus? Every item had an exclamation point at the end of the description like it was the best food they ever made!

Don't Panic

2005-04-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

Just 21 more days (which is half of 42!) until the release of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! If you don't know what it is, I suggest that you check out the movie's website. If you really don't know what it is I would suggest reading the book first. Star Wars has got nothing on this movie.

Sha-na-na

2004-10-07T13:11:00.000-04:00

Sitting here listening to some Sha-na-na. They seem pretty adamant about wanting me to go to "The Hop".